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I don't understand you. You say that you're a healthy weight, that you have 4 kids, that you take your lunch and work out at lunch every day. If you can do it, why do you think it's impossible for anyone else to do it? It's not really all that hard after you decide to do it.
Weighing your food isn't going to make you want less food. It's only going to tell you how much "will power" or deprivation you need to deal with. Will power and deprivation aren't necessarily solutions. They're just alternative ways to be miserable (fat being the other way to be miserable).
I don't think it is impossible. I just think (know) the success rate for people keeping weight off who read "Just eat less, exercise more, make wise eating decisions" is a dismal 5% or so. And, often this advice is delivered by people who often don't have a difficult time keeping the weight off in the first place.
It's like a non smoker telling a smoker "I don't want a cigarette, why do you? Just don't smoke. It's easy. It's not rocket science. You just need to make a wise smoking decision." or an non-alcoholic telling an alcoholic "I don't want a third drink, why do you? Just drink one. All you have to do is make wiser drinking decisions. Here, try this, weigh your alcohol. If you do that, you'll know how much you can drink and it will be easy."
I agree. The whole charade often just reinforces the notion that you're destined to be fat and you have to outwork everyone else to be thin. While this can work for some people, other people get profoundly depressed and frustrated with it, and it's sad because they're probably not destined to be fat anyway (I say "probably" because of serious diseases, weird genetic variants in the leptin receptor, things like that). Often these people just need to eat at different times, or eat a different macronutrient balance, or manage their stress better, or stop eating a food that's giving them problems. When they make this simple change and their "willpower" seems to magically return, only then does it sink in on a personal level that they can be as thin and healthy as anyone else, and it doesn't take a constant level of background drudgery and misery for them to be.
I agree. The whole charade often just reinforces the notion that you're destined to be fat and you have to outwork everyone else to be thin. While this can work for some people, other people get profoundly depressed and frustrated with it, and it's sad because they're probably not destined to be fat anyway (I say "probably" because of serious diseases, weird genetic variants in the leptin receptor, things like that). Often these people just need to eat at different times, or eat a different macronutrient balance, or manage their stress better, or stop eating a food that's giving them problems. When they make this simple change and their "willpower" seems to magically return, only then does it sink in on a personal level that they can be as thin and healthy as anyone else, and it doesn't take a constant level of background drudgery and misery for them to be.
Weighing your food isn't going to make you want less food. It's only going to tell you how much "will power" or deprivation you need to deal with. Will power and deprivation aren't necessarily solutions. They're just alternative ways to be miserable (fat being the other way to be miserable).
I don't think it is impossible. I just think (know) the success rate for people keeping weight off who read "Just eat less, exercise more, make wise eating decisions" is a dismal 5% or so. And, often this advice is delivered by people who often don't have a difficult time keeping the weight off in the first place.
It's like a non smoker telling a smoker "I don't want a cigarette, why do you? Just don't smoke. It's easy. It's not rocket science. You just need to make a wise smoking decision." or an non-alcoholic telling an alcoholic "I don't want a third drink, why do you? Just drink one. All you have to do is make wiser drinking decisions. Here, try this, weigh your alcohol. If you do that, you'll know how much you can drink and it will be easy."
Weighing your food may not make you want less food, but if you're serious about weight loss, it will make you eat less food.
The OP asked for opinions about why she's gaining weight in her Forties and what she can do to lose the weight. She appears clueless about how many calories she's consuming. The only way to figure it out is to measure it. She may or may not decide that she wants to eat less, but she's not even going to know if she needs to eat less if she doesn't know how much she's eating in the first place. If she can't be bothered to figure it out she's not ever going to lose any weight.
Thin people don't have to weigh and measure their food because they're already not consuming more calories than they burn--whether it's because of a speedy metabolism or because they have a good idea of how much food they need to eat during a given day.
The success rate of "eat less, exercise more" may be dismal, but it's still the only way to lose weight. Even if someone has weight-loss surgery, they still have to eat less, and they'll be measuring every bite.
The OP can decide if she wants to make the effort, but most of the advice she's been given here is sound.
Weighing your food isn't going to make you want less food. It's only going to tell you how much "will power" or deprivation you need to deal with. Will power and deprivation aren't necessarily solutions. They're just alternative ways to be miserable (fat being the other way to be miserable).
I don't think it is impossible. I just think (know) the success rate for people keeping weight off who read "Just eat less, exercise more, make wise eating decisions" is a dismal 5% or so. And, often this advice is delivered by people who often don't have a difficult time keeping the weight off in the first place.
It's like a non smoker telling a smoker "I don't want a cigarette, why do you? Just don't smoke. It's easy. It's not rocket science. You just need to make a wise smoking decision." or an non-alcoholic telling an alcoholic "I don't want a third drink, why do you? Just drink one. All you have to do is make wiser drinking decisions. Here, try this, weigh your alcohol. If you do that, you'll know how much you can drink and it will be easy."
Weighing food is part of learning what will make you want less food. Its just learning proper portions properly without guessing. Until your nutrition is square most will have the craving to over eat. Eating properly is not deprivation. Its eating properly. If you are talking about people having food addiction problems well all addictions tend to have people who fall down multiple times but the ones that succeed are the ones that get back up and take responsibility for their actions.
Also quit smoking. It really is that simple. Once you quit bad habits and you start to feel good body and mind from quitting bad habits there is no going back. Who wants to feel like crap?
I'm not big on the whole weighing my food idea, it sounds like a royal pain as a matter of fact. But I'm thinking of giving it a try anyway. People swear up and down that it helps so what do I really have to lose by trying it? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But maybe it will?
I know for a fact that a lot of normal weight people do not weigh everything that they eat. In fact, the only ones I know who ever do such a thing are people who have had weight control issues. You would almost have to be a bit nutty to just start - out of the blue- weighing your food for the fun of it, lol. Can you imagine a lanky, starving teenage boy doing such a thing? Lol. No, this is the sort of thing that people (usually) start doing post 40.
I'm not big on the whole weighing my food idea, it sounds like a royal pain as a matter of fact. But I'm thinking of giving it a try anyway. People swear up and down that it helps so what do I really have to lose by trying it? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But maybe it will?
I know for a fact that a lot of normal weight people do not weigh everything that they eat. In fact, the only ones I know who ever do such a thing are people who have had weight control issues. You would almost have to be a bit nutty to just start - out of the blue- weighing your food for the fun of it, lol. Can you imagine a lanky, starving teenage boy doing such a thing? Lol. No, this is the sort of thing that people (usually) start doing post 40.
I started it because portion control wasn't cutting it anymore. Was blown away by the error of estimation.
Its more of a pain to me to be stumped and stuck at a weight feeling hopeless than weighing some food items. So I guess I am crazy. Crazy like a fox! Zing! LOL
I also found getting the food right meant I didn't have to kill myself with any workout efforts. That is priceless. I never will be someone who likes to spend more time doing something that can be done more quickly if you just apply some thinking skills/knowledge.
I'm not big on the whole weighing my food idea, it sounds like a royal pain as a matter of fact. But I'm thinking of giving it a try anyway. People swear up and down that it helps so what do I really have to lose by trying it? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But maybe it will?
I know for a fact that a lot of normal weight people do not weigh everything that they eat. In fact, the only ones I know who ever do such a thing are people who have had weight control issues. You would almost have to be a bit nutty to just start - out of the blue- weighing your food for the fun of it, lol. Can you imagine a lanky, starving teenage boy doing such a thing? Lol. No, this is the sort of thing that people (usually) start doing post 40.
This thread has taken an odd turn. No, you're right, most people do not weigh their food before they eat it. The whole point is, if are interested in finding out how many calories you're consuming, it matters whether you're sprinkling one oz. of feta on your salad or three ozs. of feta. Two tablespoons of dressing, or a quarter cup? Are you eating one cup of cereal in the morning, or two or three cups? The only way to be sure is to measure it. After you've measured and added the calories up for a while, you become much better at eye-balling it. It's just a technique for figuring out how much you're eating, and where you might be able to cut back, if you want to do so.
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